• Asia pacific journal of information systems
• /
• 제17권2호
• /
• pp.123-137
• /
• 2007

The advent of the Internet and related Web technologies has created an easily accessible link between a firm and its customers, and has provided opportunities to a firm to use information technology to support supplementary after-sale services associated with a product or service. It has been widely recognized that supplementary services are an important source of customer value and of competitive advantage as the characteristics of the product itself. Many of these supplementary services are information-based and need not be co-located with the product, so more and more companies are delivering these services electronically. Net-based customer service, which is defined as an Internet-based computerized information system that delivers services to a customer, therefore, is the core infrastructure for supplementary service provision. The importance of net-based customer service in delivering supplementary after-sale services associated with product has been well documented. The strategic advantages of well-implemented net-based customer service are enhanced customer loyalty and higher lock-in of customers, and a resulting reduction in competition and the consequent increase in profits. However, not all customers utilize such net-based customer service. The digital divide is the phenomenon in our society that captures the observation that not all customers have equal access to computers. Socioeconomic factors such as race, gender, and education level are strongly related to Internet accessibility and ability to use. This is due to the differences in the ability to bear the cost of a computer, and the differences in self-efficacy in the use of a technology, among other reasons. This concept, applied to e-commerce, has been called the "e-commerce divide." High Internet penetration is not eradicating the digital divide and e-commerce divide as one would hope. Besides, to accommodate personalized support, a customer must often provide personal information to the firm. This personal information includes not only name and address, but also preferences information and perhaps valuation information. However, many recent studies show that consumers may not be willing to share information about themselves due to concerns about privacy online. Due to the e-commerce divide, and due to privacy and security concerns of the customer for sharing personal information with firms, limited numbers of customers adopt net-based customer service. The limited level of customer adoption of net-based customer service affects the firm profits and the customers' welfare. We use a game-theoretic model in which we model the net-based customer service system as a mechanism to enhance customers' loyalty. We model a market entry scenario where a firm (the incumbent) uses the net-based customer service system in inducing loyalty in its customer base. The firm sells one product through the traditional retailing channels and at a price set for these channels. Another firm (the entrant) enters the market, and having observed the price of the incumbent firm (and after deducing the loyalty levels in the customer base), chooses its price. The profits of the firms and the surplus of the two customers segments (the segment that utilizes net-based customer service and the segment that does not) are analyzed in the Stackelberg leader-follower model of competition between the firms. We find that an increase in adoption of net-based customer service by the customer base is not always desirable for firms. With low effectiveness in enhancing customer loyalty, firms prefer a high level of customer adoption of net-based customer service, because an increase in adoption rate decreases competition and increases profits. A firm in an industry where net-based customer service is highly effective loyalty mechanism, on the other hand, prefers a low level of adoption by customers.

• 지능정보연구
• /
• 제21권4호
• /
• pp.53-77
• /
• 2015

국내 모바일 커머스 시장은 현재 소셜커머스가 이용자 수 측면에서 오픈마켓을 압도하고 있는 상황이다. 산업계에서는 모바일 시장에서 소셜커머스의 성장에 대해 빠른 모바일 시장진입, 큐레이션 모델 등을 주요 성공요인으로 제시하고 있지만, 이에 대한 학계의 실증적인 연구 및 분석은 아직 미미한 상황이다. 본 연구에서는 사용자 리뷰를 바탕으로 모바일 소셜커머스와 오픈마켓의 사용자 이용경험을 비교 분석하는 탐험적인 연구를 수행하였다. 먼저 본 연구는 구글 플레이에 등록된 국내 소셜커머스 주요 3개 업체와 오픈마켓 주요 3개 업체의 모바일 앱 리뷰를 수집하였다. 본 연구는 LDA 토픽모델링을 통해 1만여건에 달하는 모바일 소셜커머스와 오픈마켓 사용자 리뷰를 지각된 유용성과 지각된 편리성 토픽으로 분류한 뒤 감정분석과 동시출현단어분석을 수행하였다. 이를 통해 본 연구는 국내 모바일 커머스 상에서 오픈마켓 이용자들에 비해 소셜커머스 이용자들이 서비스와 이용편리성 측면에서 더 긍정적인 경험을 하고 있음을 증명하였다. 소셜커머스는 '배송', '쿠폰', '할인'을 중심으로 서비스 측면에서 이용자들에게 긍정적인 이용경험을 이끌어내고 있는 반면, 오픈마켓의 경우 '로그인 안됨', '상세보기 불편', '멈춤'과 같은 기술적 문제 및 불편으로 인한 이용자 불만이 높았다. 이와 같이 본 연구는 사용자 리뷰를 통해 서비스 이용경험을 효과적으로 비교 분석할 수 있는 탐험적인 실증연구법을 제시하였다. 구체적으로 본 연구는 LDA 토픽모델링과 기술수용모형을 통해 사용자 리뷰를 서비스와 기술 토픽으로 분류하여 효과적으로 분석할 수 있는 새로운 방법을 제시하였다는 점에서 의의가 있다. 또한 본 연구의 결과는 향후 소셜커머스와 오픈마켓의 경쟁 및 벤치마킹 전략에 중요하게 활용될 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.